Eli Young Band and George Birge Team Up to Pay Homage to the Massive Little Texas Hit ‘Amy’s Back in Austin’ (Exclusive)

Eli Young Band frontman Mike Eli was around 13 years old when he first heard the music of the cult country band Little Texas.

“I think that math sounds about right,” Eli, 42, tells PEOPLE with a laugh in a recent interview. “Little Texas was such a big part of my upbringing. There was this roots/rock thing that not a lot of bands and artists were doing at the time. I think there was something really special about them.”

Indeed, the legendary band, currently consisting of Del Gray, Porter Howell, Dwayne O’Brien and Duane Propes, made quite an impression on the country music genre at the time with hit songs such as “My Love” and “Some Guys” Have All love.”

“Their songs were a big influence on the development of the band,” says Eli of Little Texas’ importance in the country music timeline. “I think there were a lot of them [Little Texas] songs we tried out on stage for usand this in turn helped in development our own sound.”

One of those songs that still finds its way into the Eli Young Band’s consciousness is Little Texas’ 1994 hit “Amy’s Back in Austin”. The Grammy-nominated song, co-written by Brady Seals and Stephen Allen Davis, told the story of a couple rushing to leave their hometown in the rear-view mirror, only to discover that one of them can’t see the end of the line.

“It’s one of those songs that you still want to pull out at the end of the night,” says Eli, a native of Denton, Texas. “We have those moments after concerts when we all hang out in the front lounge [of the bus], and we start playing songs that make us feel a certain way. And I think Little Texas songs, and this song in particular, takes me back to when I was 13 years old and listening to them on my dad’s radio. I think that’s one of the special things about music.”

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Eli Young Band; George Birge.

Kevin Mazur/Getty; Tammie Arroyo/Variety via Getty

So when Eli and his Eli Young Band mates got the chance to pay tribute to Little Texas by covering “Amy’s Back in Austin” for the upcoming tribute album God bless Texasthey took the opportunity.

“’Amy’s Back in Austin’ was on the radio when we were young,” says Eli. “It was a huge influence on all of us as music lovers.”

Making this opportunity even more intriguing was the opportunity for the Eli Young Band to collaborate on a song with rising country star and fellow Texan George Birge, who is currently on his way to the top of the charts with his current single “Mind on You.”

“We’re big fans of George and we’ve been friends for a long, long time,” says Eli. “Being able to do this together was a neat thing. We talked about doing things together for a really long time and being able to do this and be a part of something this one especially, it’s a neat deal.”

Cover of Amy’s Back in Austin.

Keith Brogdon

And as the Eli Young Band begins to flesh out its 2024 tour plans, Eli says he’d love to see “Amy’s Back in Austin” on the set alongside the group’s big hits like “Crazy Girl,” “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” and “Love is not.”

“Every January we have rehearsals where we revamp the setlist,” he says of the plans for the band, which also includes the talents of James Young, Jon Jones and Chris Thompson. “This would be really fun to do live, I know that for sure.”

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But first, the Eli Young Band needs to wrap up their 2023 tour schedule, which ends in Chicago on December 16.

“The last show of the year always tends to be the kind of show where it’s, let’s see what happens,” Eli says with a laugh. “Chicago is one of those places that has become a part of our heart and soul. We’ve had some really magical moments in Chicago, whether it’s a blizzard that might be a headache for the people who live there, but it’s special to us.”

So is the new album they are currently working on.

“I know we really want to go into the process of recording this next album with a fresh outlook, but maybe a really organic step into where we’ve been for the last 23 years,” he says. “We’ve done some really cool and different things and we’ve dipped into certain waters, but now I think we want to go forward and jump into those waters a little bit harder. It’s not always about the big hits. It’s really about creating special moments with songs that can move you musically.”

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Source: HIS Education